Stars Pinball Machine by Stern
Stars Pinball Machine by Stern is n Outer Space – Space Exploration themed game. It is one of two 4-player games made by Stern Electronics that has a switch setting to convert the game to 2-player operation. This is accomplished by setting CPU Switch 25 to its OFF position. Designer Mike Kubin tells us that there were certain markets that wanted only 2-player games, although he could not recall which countries they were. Because the 3rd and 4th player score displays would be disabled for this, and likely were not even installed, Stern made a special 2-player backglass for these games. We do not know how many games were shipped with the 2-player backglass.
Interestingly, Service Bulletin #8 states that Switch 27 should be set to ON because when set to OFF it will only put one player up, suggesting trouble-free single-player operation. The game manual lists Switch 27 as Not Used. We don’t know the effect this Switch 27, when set to OFF, has on Switch 25 or on any other game operation.
Stern programmer Alan McNeil told us that the mini-post screw between the flippers was known as a Kirk Post (for designer Steve Kirk).
No Warranty on this 1978 Stars Pinball Machine.